Nigeria’s official selection to the 93rd Oscars, ‘The Milkmaid’, will be up on the screen at Terra Kulture Arena in Lagos on Sunday January, 10, 2021.
The Hausa language-based thriller, which emerged Best Film at the just concluded 2020 African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), will draw guests to an exclusive screening titled: ‘An Evening with the Milkmaid’, with the Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, as the special guest of honour and ace comedian, Basketmouth as host.
Written, produced and directed by Desmond Ovbiagele, The Milkmaid spotlights insurgency and extremism, especially as they affect women and children in Sub-Saharan Africa as well as showcasing the natural beauty of Nigeria’s topography such as the Mambilla Plateau in Taraba state, while highlighting the richness of the subregion’s colourful Hausa and Fulani cultures.
The film follows Aisha, a Fulani milkmaid, searching for the whereabouts of her younger sister, Zainab, after a forced separation. Dire personal circumstances force her to approach the extremists who were responsible for their predicament in the first instance, but she is determined to find her despite the compromises she must make to do so. However, her quest to recapture her serene past proves to be unexpectedly complicated in a world whose seething conflict provides several paths to becoming a victim with typically irreversible consequences.
In December 2020, The Milkmaid was announced by the 12-member Official Selection Committee (NOSC) as Nigeria’s representative to the 93rd Oscars for consideration in the Best International Feature Film category, following a statutory vetting and subsequent voting of entries received from Nigerian filmmakers at home and abroad.
It stars Maryam Booth, Anthonieta Kalunta and Gambo Usman Kona, with US-based Nigerian surgeon Dr. Oluseun Sowemimo as Executive Producer.
The Milkmaid bagged 8 nominations at the 16th edition of AMAA in December 2020, winning 5 awards for Best Film, Best Supporting Actress, Best Nigerian Film, Best Film in an African Language, and Achievement in Make-up.